Has anyone decorated their Magic Bands? Please show us the pictures!

[SuzyQue]

I'm using glitter nail polish and jewels. I know it has been mentioned before, but to avoid going through all 200 some pages, do I need to put a clear "base" coat on first before the glitter polish to prevent it from cracking? Or does the base coat go on top? TIA!

 

[Sydney2977]

I am not a great artist by any means, but I really had fun doing these bands. We are staying at POFQ and when we planned to go a few years ago younger DS suggested these characters (his brother would have gotten Louis since he plays trumpet). He still has no idea we're going so I've had to paint these in secrecy.

This is DH's with Ray and Naveen as a frog with his crown and "guitar."







This is mine with Tiana (my favorite princess), Mama Odie, and a plate of beignets.







These are all painted with a base layer of acrylic paint (the lighter colors I used on mine and DS's really helped the top colors pop, more so than on DH's darker green base coat), then 1-2 coats of the color in the design, then 3 layers of acrylic spray sealer. Mine is showing cracking along where the band bends in the third picture. I may try to touch it up, but it will be at the bottom of my wrist so I don't know.

This is DS's with Dr. Facilier, some shadows, the amulet and his cards. I hope he loves it!







All three of our Princess and the Frog themed bands. Even if they're not perfect, they were really fun to do and I recommend anyone trying to decorate their bands to make them more personal.

 

[Kohla21]

I painted our two magic bands for our trip next week. My DH wanted a Wreck it Ralph theme and the silhouette one is mine. I had a large amount of trouble with the white paint on my band. It could be old paint.

 

[PrincessMegara]

I am getting ready to decorate mine with Paint Pens and Sharpies. I am wondering- if I do a base coat of clear nail polish, will the paint pens/sharpies still draw on it well? Or should I just go without a base coat and do a few layers of clear polish afterwards?
Also, I want to put a jewel sticker over the Mickey head. Should I do that over the clear coat layers, or should I paint over it with the clear coat even though it sticks out?

 

[Cinbride]

I'm not sure what I want to do yet. However, after reading all of these posts, I'm confused. I will be using paint (what kind), stickers, tattoo paper from printer, duct tape. Do I need to put a base on before anything? What works best? and what to seal? I've read about paint/sealer for leather. Thanks

 

[katiea86]

I've now decorated my magic bands for 2 separate trips. I still LOVE my first band, which i did in an Animal Kingdom theme (and is somewhere back in this thread), but it cracked very badly. I used probably 5-6 layers of nail polish with a matte nail polish top coat, so the multiple layers probably contributed to the cracking. For my second band, I didn't paint the band a different color before starting my design. I sponged nail polish directly onto the band then i sealed it with an acrylic varnish. The varnish had much more give and didn't crack. My trip was 6 months ago and i can still bend my magic band without any cracking.

 

[TheyThinkImCrazy]

I'm not sure what I want to do yet. However, after reading all of these posts, I'm confused. I will be using paint (what kind), stickers, tattoo paper from printer, duct tape. Do I need to put a base on before anything? What works best? and what to seal? I've read about paint/sealer for leather. Thanks

I've used nail polish, tattoos, acrylic paints and acrylic leather paints/sealer, and the leather paints/sealer is my favorite.

The nail polish (base coat, polish/nail art liners, then base coat) worked pretty well, but I felt like I couldn't control it well enough to get the look and fine details that I wanted. I had one that cracked badly because I had used a top coat that was not flexible. The others held up pretty well, just cracking at the holes a little after a lot of use. I used tattoos that were motifs not characters, so I embellished them with polish too. I think that was on my band that cracked because of the top coat, but maybe the tattoo had something to do with that as well.

I felt like the regular acrylic was easier and gave cleaner looking results, but the leather paint was the best. I purchased the thinner for the paint, and it really helped me get fine details without adding any thickness, and the different sheen sealers are nice. It looks and feels almost like it was printed on, without brush marks or odd texture.

 

[Cinbride]

I've used nail polish, tattoos, acrylic paints and acrylic leather paints/sealer, and the leather paints/sealer is my favorite.

The nail polish (base coat, polish/nail art liners, then base coat) worked pretty well, but I felt like I couldn't control it well enough to get the look and fine details that I wanted. I had one that cracked badly because I had used a top coat that was not flexible. The others held up pretty well, just cracking at the holes a little after a lot of use. I used tattoos that were motifs not characters, so I embellished them with polish too. I think that was on my band that cracked because of the top coat, but maybe the tattoo had something to do with that as well.

I felt like the regular acrylic was easier and gave cleaner looking results, but the leather paint was the best. I purchased the thinner for the paint, and it really helped me get fine details without adding any thickness, and the different sheen sealers are nice. It looks and feels almost like it was printed on, without brush marks or odd texture.

Thank you! Do you anything as a base or clean the bands first?

 

[HockeyMomNH]

HockeyMom, do you use the Plaid Craft Clear Acrylic Sealer on all of your bands? Your bands are simply fantastic. Also, the Little Mermaid one above, is that with acrylic paints? Have you ever considered doing a youtube video of one of your bands start to finish?

I'm sorry, somehow I missed this post before. Thank you. Yes, I paint with acrylic paints and I do use the acrylic sealer on my bands. Just one or two light coats works great.

A few words of caution on the sealer. Be careful that you don't get suntan lotion on in, it makes the bands a bit sticky. Also, don't use spray sealer over sharpie markers, it makes them run.

 

[SirPeaches]

Hi, Luv2Run,

Your MagicBands look great!

I love covering my bands in Swarovskis but I always leave like a one inch gap around the Mickey because I'm afraid it won't work! Did you have any issues with your MagicBand working with the rhinestones covering the Mickey?

Thank you

Our MBs arrived last Friday, so I decided to decorate them on Saturday. I'll be disneybounding as Tinkerbell and Ariel, so I figured I'd go with a green band this year.

For this one, I scuffed up the Mickey head a bit with a nail file, then applied some E6000 and used tweezers to stick the jewels on. After that, I applied one layer of base coat nail polish, let that dry, then added one coat of gold glitter polish. After drying, I added a top coat of Dior Nail Glow (it glows in blacklight, and is a great top coat to seal it). The area where I covered the extra holes with jewels isn't perfect up close, but ehhh I'm not too worried about that. It still looks cute from a distance, lol.

I finally convinced my fiancé to let me decorate his, but he would only let me fill in the Mickey heads:

I used a Sharpie to fill in the Mickey head, let it dry for a few hours, then added a second coat of Sharpie to make sure it was really dark. The next day I added the top coat of Dior to seal the color. I'm excited to see my fiancé's face when it glows in blacklight.

 

[Luv2Run]

Hi, Luv2Run,

Your MagicBands look great!

I love covering my bands in Swarovskis but I always leave like a one inch gap around the Mickey because I'm afraid it won't work! Did you have any issues with your MagicBand working with the rhinestones covering the Mickey?

Thank you

Nope! No problems whatsoever!

 

[TheyThinkImCrazy]

Thank you! Do you anything as a base or clean the bands first?

I usually clean the band first (just rubbing alcohol, although I have used nail polish rover to clean off a painted band and start over on more than one occasion) and I do normally use a base coat. I think that I bought one for the leather paints, but honestly, I am not entirely sure and can't go look right now.

 

[Comeundone87]

I painted my MB last time, but I'm not very artistic so I decided to get wraps from magic your band. And let me tell you I LOVE them. My son helped with designing them and I got 3 different ones just for myself. (Even though we are only spending 5 days in the parks lol) I love that we got 2 of each design. I can't wait until out MB arrive so I can put them on. The wraps got here super quick! I ordered on Sunday and they arrived today! 33 days to go.

 

[SirPeaches]

Thanks so much..I'm going for it

 

[PollyannaMom]

...I painted my MB last time, but I'm not very artistic so I decided to get wraps from magic your band...

I love your Donald Duck one!

 

[Comeundone87]

I love your Donald Duck one!

Thank you.

 

[Cinbride]

I just about fell off the couch. I'm customizing bands for our anniversary trip. My DH hates anything with colors and design. I made a mickey/minnie kissing (blk/white) for him with another little red/blk mickey. Andwrote they lived happily ever after. I figured I'd have to take everything off. he responded, that's nice! Shoot, should have added color. HAHAHA

 

[vforrest]

Without having to go through all 214+ pages of this thread......can anyone tell me the best brand of nail polish to use to avoid cracking?

 

[MagicYourBand]

It's been a while since I posted about the GKTW bands but just a quick reminder that you can support Give Kids The World while giving your MagicBand a cool makeover with our GKTW MagicBand Skins that were designed by WebmasterWill!

They're just $7 including free international shipping and 100% of the price you pay goes directly to GKTW! Please check them out: www.magicyourband.com/gktw

And if these don't float your boat we have over 200 different designs that you can choose from including some DIS exclusives and also online design tools that allow you to create your own custom band.

 

[Napria]

Mine are boring compared to many on here but I like them. My son wanted equations on his, much as I tried to dissuade him. Writing with toothpicks dipped in nail polish was not fun! But he's very happy with the end result.